The Startup That Brought Men $1 Razors Is Now Launching Butt Wipes

Dollar Shave Club CEO Michael Dubin holding his latest product, One Wipe Charlies. Dollar Shave Club Last year, Dollar Shave Club (DSC) made a splash by promising to ship men a razor each month for $1. Now, it is releasing a new product for the buttocks.

Today, DSC is announcing One Wipe Charlies (OWC), a hygienic wipe that can be flushed. OWC will cost $4 for a 40-wipe pack. Like DSC's Shave Butter product, the wipes won't show up at your doorstep automatically each month; members will order them as needed.

According to Michael Dubin, CEO and co-founder of Los Angeles-based Dollar Shave Club, men use wipes frequently, and the $9 billion toilet paper market is much larger than the $6 billion shaving and grooming category.

"More people wipe butts than shave," he states. "If our strategy is really to own the bathroom, it makes sense for us to move into toilet paper."

To confirm the move toward One Wipe Charlies, DSC surveyed 1,000 men and found that 51% "use wipes regularly" but 23% are embarrassed about it, so they hide the wipes from view. 16% use wipes instead of toilet paper.

"Great things happen when your ass feels fantastic," says Dubin. "We want to service your face, ass and everything in between. This is a great way for us to make that bold statement that we want to own the bathroom."

If the toilet paper market is so much bigger than the shaving market, why didn't DSC start there?

Dubin says it's because razors resonate more naturally with men. DSC has accumulated 200,000 active members since its launch, hired 25 people, and raised more than $10 million.

There was a report that DSC was looking to raise $40 million more, but Dubin says his team isn't currently fundraising and there isn't truth to that rumored round.

Since I'm not the target market, I asked multiple male acquaintances what they thought about OWC. Some claimed they had never used butt wipes, but if they got over the embarrassment, they might be inclined to try one. In other words, if one happened to show up at their doorstep or office, they might sneak away to try it. Others were more closed-minded.

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Not sure how to use a One Wipe Charlie? DSC has provided this video about its latest product: